Dumanis releases Azano rec letter

DA says she is doing so in personal capacity, not official

Dumanis unhands rec letter for Azano

San Diego  District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has released a letter of recommendation she wrote for the son of a Mexican billionaire who supported her mayoral campaign, saying controversy over the letter was "much ado about nothing."

She said she was releasing the letter in her personal capacity, not as DA, and she did not concede to a media consortium arguing that it's a public record.

The letter for Edward Susumo Azano has been sought by U-T San Diego and other local media outlets for a month, but Dumanis has turned down requests for the letter under the state Public Records Act. The student's father stands indicted in a federal probe of how $600,000 of foreign money got into local campaigns, including Dumanis's unsuccessful run for mayor in 2012.

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She released the letter Wednesday morning on an appearance on KUSI television. It came hours after she did not respond to the latest demand from a lawyer representing a consortium of local media to release the letter by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

KUSI did not join in the demand to release the letter, is not part of the media consortium, and in fact agreed with Dumanis's opinion that the letter is not a matter of public record.

In the letter Dumanis says the younger Azano is "a bright, energetic, compassionate and genuinely well-rounded young man."

In her television appearance she said she did not personally know the younger Azano. She said she wrote the letter at the request of Ernesto "Ernie" Encinas, a retired San Diego police detective who worked for Azano. Encinas has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion for his role in the campaign funding scandal.

She said she also writes letters on behalf of people she personally knows, and will make that personal connection clear in the correspondence. Dumanis said she will write letters when someone she knows is "vouching" for the subject of the letter.

That was the case for the Azano letter. She said when she signs a letter on behalf of someone she does not know, she reads a draft submitted by someone she trusts, "and I look at it and I will do it if I feel comfortable."

She said she would release the letter to other media outlets when they ask for it, and U-T San Diego did so, following up on an initial request on June 2.

Dumanis said the letter was not official business of her office, even though it was on letterhead, carried the DA's seal, and included her office number for any questions. The September 2012 letter was addressed to University of San Diego President Mary Lyons. The younger Azano attended the school for a year starting in 2013.

U-T Watchdog has reported that Dumanis's office policy prohibits the use of DA letterhead for non-official business, but her spokesman said that policy does not apply to the DA herself.

The U-T has also sought copies of all letters of recommendation she has written since her election in 2002, to put the Azano letter in context. Her office has denied that request. All five members of the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Bill Gore have complied with similar requests, indicating they consider such letters are public records.

Dumanis also told KUSI she regretted writing the letter.

"If I had known when I wrote the letter what I know today, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to write the letter,” she said.

Although Dumanis said she was releasing the letter to KUSI in her personal capacity, not official, she had her office's communications director distribute the letter to other media later in the day.

The email included this statement from Dumanis: “Speculation over this letter has been without merit. Even though this is not a public record, but a personal letter, I have decided to release this letter in this case only. It is my hope that by doing so, we can all focus on holding the individuals charged with crimes responsible for their actions.”